All the Devils' hottest news, from notes to numbers to neutral-zone traps

Friday, July 15, 2011

The Devils have signed unrestricted free agent left wing Eric Boulton, formerly of Atlanta/Winnipeg.

Boulton, 34, confirmed that he signed a two-year, one-way deal.

He was at Prudential Center today for a physical before signing his contract.

"It's all about a hockey decision." said Boulton. "It's all about winning and I think this team is very close. I think they can have a great year next year if they pick up where they left off last year and it's a great organization and I'm very happy to be part of an organization like this."

Boulton scored his first career hat trick in a 7-1 win over the Devils on Dec. 18 of last season in Atlanta, but said that's not what fans should expect of him in New Jersey.

"I think my game is a little bit different than that," Boulton said. "Don't expect too many more of those. Maybe in practice, but not in the games. I'll bring the physical side to the game, as everybody knows. I'll stick up for my teammates and be a good team guy. That's what I'm all about."

Boulton, 6-foot1, 225-pound native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, had six goals, four assists 87 penalty minutes in 69 games last season with Atlanta. He has 27 goals, 46 assists and 1,150 penalty minutes in 549 career NHL regular season games with Buffalo and Atlanta.

He said "a few other teams" were interested, but Winnipeg was not one of them.

The Devils have added some significant toughness in the last two days in signing Cam Janssen (one-year, two-way deal) and Boulton.

Boulton said he knows defenseman Henrik Tallinder from playing him in Buffalo and Johan Hedberg and Ilya Kovalchuk from Atlanta. He also knows defenseman Colin White because they are both from Nova Scotia.

About

TOM GULITTI has covered the New Jersey Devils for The Record since 2002. Prior to that, he covered the New York Rangers for four years. Gulitti joined The Record in 1998 after six years at The North Jersey Herald News. He graduated from Binghamton University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric-Literature.